Poll: Top 5 Whiskeys

I remember when this board started up folks listed their favorite bourbons, but we haven't done it in a while so here goes. Please list, in order of preference, you're top five American whiskeys (bourbon and rye). I'm curious about whether any of the newer products (Sazerac, Weller 19, WT Russell's Reserve etc.) have become favorites.

Re: Poll: Top 5 Whiskeys

Good bourbon does not need to cost a fortune. Try these.
1) Weller Special Reserve
2) Wild Turkey 101
3) Very Old Barton Bottled in Bond
4) Old Forester 100 Proof
5) George Dickel No.12 (Yes I know it is a Tennessee Whisky, but deserves a place on my list.)

Re: Poll: Top 5 Whiskeys

Wow! Top five, huh? That's really difficult. Just last year it was so easy. Hmmm.

I can see from some of the other posts that I'm not the only one having a problem selecting a top five...

4. Old Commonwealth and Woodford Reserve and Elijah Craig 12
5. Russell's Reserve and Maker's Mark and Knob Creek and EW Single Barrel and Rare Breed and Johnny Drum and McCormick and Bookers and Laphroig and...

C'mon guys and dolls, now that's cheating!

What I did for me was, I set up some further restrictions and filters.

First, I said to myself, "Self," I says, "there shouldn't be any bourbons here that are not currently being made. Unfortunately, that restriction filters out some of my bigtime favorites, such as

(1) Henry Clay (maybe my all-time favorite bourbon ever)
(2) Old Rip Van Winkle Family Reserve Pappy's 20-year-old - the old style (a year ago I hated this bourbon. Now I love it dearly. Go figure)
(3) Elmer T. Lee 107 proof (first kisses should be this sweet and pure... and hot)
(4) Old Taylor - 1979 National Distillers version (Linda's all-time favorite whiskey ever)
(5) David Nicholson 1843 (basically 7-year-old Old Fitzgerald with a custom label, and a finish that lingers into next Tuesday)

It also, technically, rules out single barrels, since the particular ones currently available are no longer being made. I've modified that a little to allow single barrels that are so consistant that they don't vary significantly, but I'm afraid it does keep favorites Kentucky Spirit and the Evan Williams' vintage bottlings out. There's just too much variation between bottlings of these fine whiskeys to generalize.

Then I figured, how can you compare boutique, distillers' showpieces with everyday shotglass bourbon? So I'm gonna need at least two lists, sorted by price. But as I started putting a top five together, I found that my favorites all seemed to cling to the dividing line between the two lists. So I made it three lists...